1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to coin sorting devices and, more particularly, to coin sorters of the type which use a coin-driving member and a coin-guiding member for sorting coins of mixed diameters.
2. Background Information
Although coin sorters have been used for a number of years, problems are still encountered in this technology. For example, friction of the moving coins on the surface of the coin-guiding member can cause galling of that surface. If softer metals are used in coins, some of the softer metal may fuse into the surface of the coin-guiding member. It would be advantageous to have a coin sorter which could not only apply lubrication to the coin-guiding member, but vary the amount of lubrication and the frequency of lubrication by simple operator inputs.
To accomplish exact bag stopping or the expulsion of an invalid coin, the moving components of the system must be decelerated at high rates to ensure that the trigger coin (the invalid coin, or the last coin to be placed in a bag) enters the correct chute. This requires an extreme brake force to be exerted on some of the moving components in the coin sorter when coins are being sorted and discharged at the rate of over 4000 coins per minute. This excessive brake force leads to substantial wear on the brake components. Thus, it would be useful to have an apparatus which continuously adjusts the braking mechanism at an optimum deceleration rate, that is not too excessive, so as to conserve the amount of wear on the brake components.
Furthermore, stopping is often necessary to ensure that only the trigger coin enters the bag. It would be useful to have a bag switching mechanism which would only require the coin sorter to decelerate, and not stop. Thus, the rate of sorting and discriminating would increase if only deceleration were needed. And, the wear on the braking components would decrease. This problem is accentuated when the sensors detecting the coin are in the exit channels near the periphery of the sorting head.
Because the exact bag stop feature may encounter problems in that the trigger coin may not fully discharge from the sorting head due to deviations in the braking mechanism or drive motor, it would be useful to have a feature which allowed the operator to change the amount of angular displacement of the coin-driving member after the trigger coin is detected. Such a feature would provide a user with simplistic means to correct this problem without having to modify the braking mechanism or the coin-driving member. It would also be beneficial to have a coin collection system which would allow the coin sorter to continue operation even though the coin limit for one denomination is reached.